PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Without a Republican candidate in the primary election, Philadelphia Democrats will determine who leads the District Attorney’s Office for the next four years when they cast their votes in Tuesday’s primary for either two-term incumbent Larry Krasner or former Municipal Court Judge Pat Dugan.
Krasner won the seat in 2017 as part of a wave of reform prosecutors backed by progressive billionaire George Soros, but he’s not running on his record. He is running as the anti-Donald Trump.
“Fundamentally, I believe what this election is about is what our times are about. We are in a moment in this country when there are those who are trying to destroy equality, and we are here to support it,” Krasner said at a recent appearance. “I am here to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States, which is my fundamental oath. I am here to seek justice, and if you want to mess with that, you can F around and find out.”
Dugan finds it ironic.
“I think Larry’s one of the biggest reasons why Donald Trump won Pennsylvania,” he said in an interview. “I think his policies actually drove people away from the Democratic Party.”
Dugan is a former Army veteran and, in some ways, the archetypal Philadelphian — born in Fairmount, raised in Frankford, educated at St. Joe’s Prep and Rutgers-Camden Law.
Krasner has attempted to paint Dugan as a law-and-order hardliner, often bringing up Lynn Abraham when asked about his opponent. But it’s hard to reconcile that characterization with Dugan’s record. Dugan helped create Veterans Court, a diversionary program to keep defendants who served in the military out of jail. He started the eviction diversion court, which helped 46,000 Philadelphia families avoid eviction.
“For 17 years, I’ve led the way for rehabilitative justice,” Dugan said. “I went into the jails during COVID to open up a COVID court because those men and women were stuck in jail. I’m more than willing to do restorative, rehabilitative justice. We’re going to hold people accountable, but we’re also going to give people second chances.”
Dugan said he would continue the work of the Conviction Integrity Unit — the pride of Krasner’s tenure — even as he casts doubt on how honestly the DA’s Office has approached the work. Dugan cited criticism from judges who have overseen the cases about the “lack of candor” the unit exhibits.
While Krasner has criticized past DAs for instilling a “win-at-all-costs” ethos in the office, when it came to convictions, Dugan accused Krasner of the same attitude toward exonerations.
“He has done the same thing he’s accused former prosecutors of,” Dugan said. “We have to make sure we are not cheating either. But no innocent person should still be in jail, and nobody who was convicted due to corruption or somebody cheating should still be in jail. I want to bring a fresh team in there and see what we can do about these cases.”
Krasner has defended the unit, dismissing the judges who criticized him as former prosecutors with “some feelings.”
“When you try to change a culture, there’s some people who are not going to like it because it’s change,” Krasner said. “They’re entitled to their opinion, and I intend to keep going full-steam ahead.”
Dugan said he was a fan of Krasner’s and voted for him, but he was disappointed by what he observed in Municipal Court.
“The last seven years, what we’ve seen is the prosecution either not charging criminals or withdrawing cases that have been charged at an extremely high rate, upward of 70%,” he said. “It’s outrageous that victims and defendants and our society are not getting their day in court because of his non-prosecution.”
Dugan zeroed in on retail theft, a crime that Krasner announced early on would not be a priority, publicizing a policy of relegating any theft below $500 to the level of a parking ticket.
“We went from 7,200 retail thefts in 2017 to almost 24,000 last year,” Dugan said. “How can our stores sustain that? Wawa, Rite Aid, CVS, Macy’s [are] gone. I plan on enforcing retail theft laws. And for people who really need help — that mother who’s stealing formula for her child — we can help her, but other than that, people need to be held accountable.”
Krasner has tweaked his retail theft policy but still maintains the crime is largely driven by young thrill-seekers and desperate homeless people. He said he is now aggressively going after the rest — “prolific retail thieves” — which he estimated is 20% of the perpetrators.
In a progressive city like Philadelphia, Krasner’s policies have won him a passionately loyal following, and incumbency is a powerful force. At a recent Dugan meet-and-greet at a beer garden in Center City, one Krasner partisan said she briefly considered signing in but decided not to.
“Let’s face it, I’m not going to vote for him,” she said.
Dugan is undeterred.
“I have not conceded one vote,” he said. “I think people know we can do better.”